How many?

[Lyra]

How many different vitamins and supplements do you take daily? My count varies, depending on if I am working on clearing something up or not. But I take around 10 every day.

 

[aunaturel]

Holy cow, really? I am taking an iron supplement due to severe anemia and B-complex to help my thyroid, but that's it beyond my normal multi-vitamin. You should be getting your nutrients from your diet, not a bottle.

 

[Myrrh]

I take only two vitamins daily. Lately, it seems like I have been susceptible to colds, so I take vitamin C. On the other hand, I have been a vitamin E pill taker for several years now, and it's largely because of its antioxidant property.

 

[Lyra]

It would be nice to get all my nutrients from my food, but studies show that food has much less nutrition than it used to, and looks like less yet in times to come, if the reports of lowered nutrition in GMO's is to be believed. But notice I said vitamins and supplements. Less than half of the pills I take every day are vitamins. The rest are herbals to address various health issues I have, such as allergies.

 

[freshfoodie]

Zip, zero, zilch. If you are eating a well balanced diet, then you should not need so many vitamins and supplements. I do take echinaccea if I am sick, but that's it.

 

[Lyra]

Zip, zero, zilch. If you are eating a well balanced diet, then you should not need so many vitamins and supplements. I do take echinaccea if I am sick, but that's it.

I have heard doctors say this for years. But I think it reflects a mindset that vitamins are just food. If you see vitamins and herbs as medicine, then you can see that there isn't any way you could get it all from your diet. You don't regularly eat echinacea flowers as part of your diet, right?

Think about fish oil. Studies have shown that fish oil in high doses can dramatically improve focus and behavior in children with ADHD. You can't get enough fish oil in your diet to effect that level of improvement, because it isn't safe to eat that much fish anymore, due to mercury. You could put your child on a pharmaceutical to improve focus; no one would say you should be able to get that effect from a balanced diet. If you are using fish oil in the same way, as medicine, you have to take it in doses that you can't get from a balanced diet. Not everyone needs that level of fish oil in their diet.

I take B6 every day because I have a B6 deficiency. My asthma medication causes an inability to properly use B6 in some people. I cannot get enough B6 in my diet to make up for what the medicine keeps me from being able to use.

 

[2Nature]

I take just one tablet of multi-vitamin-mineral supplement every day. Sometimes I will skip it just to make sure my body doesn't get used to it that much.

 

[lolli]

I don't take anything either. I am going to start taking Vitamin B and Omega-3. I have heard they are both great to take. I have been really sluggish lately so I hope these work.